#03: Equipping Defensive Cards

Let’s talk about some cards which have a long-lasting effect. Kibito and ChampBelt will both trigger a special icon at the top of the screen. In the case of Kibito, the next beam attack which hits the player will take no damage. ChampBelt will do the same for any melee attack.

While Kibito and ChampBelt are expensive compared to the Avoiding/Shockwave/Endurance cards, they are much more reliable and they do not wear off after one turn. They can be thought of as ‘insurance’, in case the opponent does something unexpected. It’s worth noting that while you can still use cards like Avoiding / Shockwave as normal, if you try and use endurance you will take damage no matter what (and if you get hit by what Kibito / Champbelt were guarding against you will lose them anyway).

There are several ways to counter these cards. Firstly is the low-cost Sandglass card which removes any support effects the enemy may have, this includes Kibito, ChampBelt, Lock-On and Afterimage.

A more risky approach is to use a low-cost cc move of your own like Cont Punch or Energy Wave. Not that if the enemy dodges your attack completely, their defense of Kibito / ChampBelt will still be in place. Finally, Kibito and ChampBelt cannot be used together as one overrides the previous one. If a user has Kibito then you can attack them with melee moves or if they have ChampBelt activated then you can attack them with beams.

Kibito is slightly better than ChampBelt in that most high-power high-cost moves tend to be beams, Kibito is especially effective in the highest tier of Battle Mode as the AI tend to use beams a lot more than melee attacks. ChampBelt is effective against melee users like #17, Ginyu, Recoome and Burter.

Afterimage is one of the most useful cards in the game – it increases your evasiveness until your opponent attacks you with a Beam or Melee attack. When they do, you have a higher chance of taking less damage or avoiding the attack completely. Useful for those moments when an enemy takes you by surprise and you didn’t have an Avoiding, Shockwave or Endurance card ready.